Tag Archives: peduncle throw

Competition Heats Up

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Aloha,

Guests joining us on Thursday’s Wake up With the Whales got to see the whole gamut of competitive activities. It was pretty windy out there, but Captain Baker found us a competitive pod of 4 adult humpbacks (no calf). While we were watching, two more males joined the fray. We saw at least a dozen breaches, and too many head lunges, pectoral slaps and tail lobs to count. We also saw a few peduncle throws from the competing males (either that, or the peduncle throws were from the female trying to express her excitement…or irritation….while all this was going on, it was difficult to keep track of who was being chased and who was doing the chasing). We were able to keep up with this group on a parallel path for more than 45 minutes before we finally had to turn and head back to the bay. With less than a week left for our Whale Watch Season, we’re really treasuring these moments. And we’re pretty sure that the Humpbacks still remaining around Hawaii are treasuring every encounter they’re having with each other too!
Mahalo and have a great weekend. I’ll send a recap of the weekend’s sightings on Monday.
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: The barnacles called “Coronula diadema” live only on Humpback Whales, and they seem to prefer to live on areas of the whale where the water flow is consistent (chin and fins). Though researchers aren’t completely sure how the barnacle can even find a whale to live on, there is some speculation that because the barnacles are spawning during the winter in Hawaii, the whales here are swimming in “barnacle larvae soup”. When a whale swims by, those “baby” barnacles chemically sense it, and hop on where ever they can. They use their antennae as “feet’ and walk around the whale till they find a suitable spot (which can take quite a while… if the barnacle were the size of a person, the whale would be 20 miles long). Once they find a spot they like, they flip over and produce tube-shaped cavities in their shells that actually draw in prongs of growing whale skin, holding their position on the whale for life.

Fussy Baby Humpback

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Aloha,

On Tuesday’s Wake Up With the Whales Cruise, guests saw 8 different humpbacks. We spent most of our time with a Mom/Baby/Escort pod. Baby was kind of fussy…doing a couple of tail lobs and then rolling on his back and doing a couple of pec slaps every now and then. We saw one breach about 1000 yards from us by a different adult humpback. When we stopped to deploy our hydrophone, not only did we get to listen to some very loud and clear sounds, but while we were sitting there, baby decided to surface – followed by Mom and the escort — and all three of them cruised by us just about 100 feet away. On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise we also saw about 8 different whales — all adults. We saw one breach about a mile away, a peduncle throw and a single tail lob — all from different whales. We also had a close encounter when two big humpbacks surfaced just 50 feet from us.
Mahalo
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: According the website of the International Whaling Commission (the international agency overseeing whaling) the only countries with people allowed to hunt Humpbacks under the Aboriginal Sustenance Hunting program are a tribe in Greenland (who were allowed 9 West Greenland Humpbacks annually for the years 2010-2012, and 10 Humpbacks annually in 2013 and 2014), and the Bequian people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who were allowed a total of 20 Humpbacks between the years 2008 and 2012 and  a total of 24 Humpbacks between the years 2013 and 2018. The IWC specifically bans the killing of calves..

Radical New Music Courtesy of Humpbacks

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Aloha,

Our March 30th Whale Watch Cruises were really spectacular. On our 8:00 Wake Up with the Whales Cruise, we saw 8 different humpbacks within about 1000 yards of us. But while we were sitting, watching them in all directions, we heard sounds echoing up through the hulls, There was a singer very close by — so close we didn’t even need to deploy our hydrophone to hear him. But of course once we listened without the hydrophone, we wanted to hear the sounds even more clearly, so we dropped our microphone and this is what we heard: CLICK HERE. Very unique sounds…more like an aviary than a whale…While we were listening, two very big mature whales surfaced right next to the boat and swam around us — not once, but twice!
On our 10:00 Signature Whale Watch on Alala, as soon as we left the harbor, we saw some splashes to the south. So we took a turn to the left and found a pod of Spinner Dolphins. This pod was moving south fairly quickly and directly. They didn’t come to the boat, but we all saw lots of jumps and spins from this very active pod. After watching them for awhile, we saw the tell-tale spouts of Humpbacks, so we headed back north to what we thought was a pod of Mom and baby. Eventually, we figured out there were three whales in the pod when the escort surfaced too. As we watched, baby cycled between periods of activity and periods of quiet. While he was active we saw lots of tail lobs and little peduncle throws…and then he would tire out and dive down to mom. We got to see the flukes from all three of these whales — Mom and the Escort had strikingly white flukes, and baby had a definite black border around the white on his flukes. We finally had to turn back and head towards the harbor…that’s when baby started breaching and breaching and breaching.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: To our untrained ears, the sounds we hear from our hydrophones sound pretty random though we have noticed the lack of certain phrases this year that we heard fairly often last year. According to a paper published in the journal Current Biology, it turns out that our ears aren’t so untrained after all. Researchers have documented that the Humpback songs in the South Pacific are actually changing really quickly. Over the last decade, completely new song themes are appearing within a season. The researchers compared the radical evolution of the Humpbacks’ songs to human musical composition, suggesting that the themes are so novel; it’s as if whole new human musical genres were appearing that no one had ever heard just a few years ago — similar to the emergence of rockabilly in the 1950’s or hip hop in the 1970’s.

Mugged for 90 Minutes!

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Aloha,

We had great Humpback sightings all day on Thursday. On our 10:00 Signature Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we found a competitive pod of 4 whales — Mom and her baby, and two escorts competing to be just one escort. Mom did a good job of keeping her calf away from the two guys. She put her body between her calf and them…and we saw lots of lunging and a couple of peduncle throws from the competing males. According to Captain Baker, our Whales and Cocktails Cruise was “stellar”. It took us about 30 minutes to get out to three spouts we saw as we were leaving the bay.When we got to the whales, they acted VERY happy to see us. Mom, baby and escort spent 90 minutes right at our boat. If our arms were about 2 feet longer (and if it were legal), we could have touched them for most of the time! The whales were clearly looking at us from below the surface and above, spy hopping, and lifting their heads horizontally too. And it wasn’t just baby who was interested…the adults were right there with him. We saw a few peduncle throws from the escort and a few tail lobs too…We wondered what those whales must have been thinking, listening to all the shouts of excitement coming from that floating object in the middle of the ocean!
Have a great weekend…I’ll send out a recap of what we saw on Monday,
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales (and, in fact, all Baleen Whales) demonstrate something called “reverse sexual size dimorphism”. This means that an adult female Humpback is larger than an adult male (by about 5%). Though researchers are not sure of the exact reason for the difference in size, they theorize that the increased size allows the female to store more reserves to feed and care for her calf, and also to give birth to a bigger calf who might have a better chance of survival than a smaller one. Average length for a fully grown female Humpback is around 45 feet. At her heaviest, she weighs 35 – 40 tons.

Wild Weekend!

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Aloha,

It’s kind of difficult to sum up this past weekend of Whale Watching Cruises. We ran a lot of trips, and we saw a wide variety of behaviors and lots and lots of whales on every cruise. Highlights included seeing 5 different Cow/Calf/Escort pods – including one pod that swam right under us in just 25 feet of water as we were returning to the bay on Friday’s Wake up with the Whales. We also got mugged by a baby, his mom and their escort on the 10:00 Whale Watch. On Friday’s Whales and Cocktails, we got to watch a chase ensue with 5 males and Mom and Baby. We weren’t sure if it was one of the males doing all the peduncle throwing and tail lobbing 100 yards from us, or if it was Mom expressing her displeasure at all the attention.At one point she turned towards the boat and led the whole pod right in front of our bow.
Though we went from two different locations and two different times on Saturday’s morning trips, guests saw very similar activities. Both Seasmoke and Alala were approached by very active calves. Seasmoke’s calf brought Mom and the Escort right over for a close encounter with our idling boat…and Alala’s calf decided multiple breaches were in order. Guests on both boats also saw multiple spouts, tail lobs and peduncle throws a bit further away.
On Sunday’s first Alala Cruise, we were so focused on watching a competitive pod of 5 Humpbacks chase each other around that we barely noticed any other whales (though I’m sure there were a lot in the area). We got to see breaches, head lunges and tail lobs from this group. We also had an extremely close encounter when two of the pod popped up right next to our idling boat, surprising us all. On the way back to the harbor, a very active calf breached and peduncle threw multiple times just about 100 yards from us. Driving away from that action was one of the hardest things we ever have to do…but right after we dropped the folks off from that whale watch, we turned around to take out a bunch of great people who were using the cruise as a fundraiser for the West Hawaii Clinic. We found our active baby again…and this time got to see Mom and an Escort. We also saw lots of other spouts, a couple of pec slaps, and even a few breaches. When we deployed the hydrophone, it sounded as if one whale was singing directly into our microphone.
Hope your weekend was as great as ours!
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Though we’ve mentioned before that only male Humpback Whales “sing”, all Humpbacks make noises and use these sounds to communicate with each other. Researchers have witnessed cooperative feeding behaviors among the Humpbacks apparently “triggered” by sound, and have also witnessed Humpback Cows (moms) apparently ignoring some sounds made by their calves (researchers called these sounds “goo-goo, ga-ga” noises), but responding immediately when the calves made particular squealing noises. So it appears that Mom recognizes her baby’s voice!

Very Different Activities Observed Throughout the Day

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Aloha,

Wednesday was our last  9 Whale Watch Charter day this week. What was most interesting is the differences between what we saw on the cruises…especially because we departed from the same locations and had very little time in between cruises. Guests joining us on our first Seasmoke Cruise got to see lots of spouts and flukes from pods of two adult Humpbacks. We also saw a few pectoral slaps, and a few peduncle throws happening from a pod of three whales. As we gazed out to the horizon, we also saw some huge splashes from breaching whales. Just one hour after we returned from that cruise, we departed again, and this time we saw  so many close-up breaches that we actually lost count. We were watching a competitive pod of 5 adult humpbacks for the first hour of the cruise, and these whales came right up to our boat, swimming across our bow, diving and surfacing on all sides of the boat. We also saw a bunch of head lunges and tail lobs, and a couple of double pec slaps. After about an hour of non-stop activity, this pod took a deep dive, and either separated, or swam off fast and far, because we never saw them again (though we did see spouts, flukes, and plenty of other whales). After that incredibly exciting cruise, we went out again two hours later. This time, it took us awhile to even see a spout. But the whales found us, and we ended up watching 6 different pods of two adults, and towards the end of the cruise, got to see a Mom/Baby/Escort pod. To us, it appeared that baby was leading the adults around…since baby kept changing directions, followed by mom and the escort. They came pretty close to our boat, checking us out too. We actually got to watch baby lying on mom’s rostrum, and as mom swam, we got to watch the baby roll right up her head and onto her blowholes!
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Researchers have observed that Humpback calves are very playful, investigating all kinds of objects in their environment (including our boat), interacting with their moms, and even interacting with passing pods of dolphins. But for as many calves as we see in Hawaii during the winter, we never have observed the calves playing with each other. Though we’re not sure why this is, perhaps the new moms won’t allow a calf not her own to approach, because she doesn’t want to feed the wrong one.

Close Up Action

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Aloha,

Our Monday Wake up with the Whales Cruise started out with sightings of lots of whales in the distance, but as the saying goes, “it’s not over till it’s over”. Towards the end of our cruise we got to see two tail lobbers, some pectoral slapping and 5 breaches all within a couple hundred yards of the boat. Guests on the 10:00 Cruise from Kawaihae got to watch a competitive pod of 5 whales for most of the cruise. Though there were whales breaching and splashing everywhere, this group kept our attention. They were quiet at first, and then something spurred them to action and we got to see lots of peduncle throws from them. At one point, they dove under us, and surfaced within 100 feet. We got to see several spy hops within 50 feet of us. When we deployed the hydrophone we heard a symphony of singing too.
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: When you see the spout from a whale, you’re actually looking at an interesting combination of things. Some of what you’re looking at is condensation from the whales’ lungs (the same thing you’re looking at when you see your own breath after exhaling in a cold environment); some is atomized ocean water (Humpbacks live in a wet world, and there’s always some of the ocean pooled on top of their blow holes when they surface); and…since Humpbacks don’t have cilia in their respiratory tracks (little hairs)…a lot of what you see (and occasionally feel) is actually mucus! Yuck!

Windy Weather But Great Sightings

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It was a windy day on the water on Wednesday, so we weren’t able to run most of our cruises, but guests joining us on our 8:00 Wake Up with the Whales had a great time watching a baby breach. Those calves always look so cute and uncoordinated to us. We also saw another Mom/Baby pod, and 8 or 9 other adult HumpbacksHumpback Blowholes

On our 10:00 Cruise from Kawaihae we got to witness a wide variety of behaviors. Just out of the harbor we encountered a sub-adult humpback who was kind of curious about us. This whale spent some time checking us out as we all got a good view of him (or her — we couldn’t tell). This whale was joined by another whale and they must have felt a little bit of animosity towards each other because one of them started peduncle throwing. Later in the cruise we got to see 6 consecutive breaches —  some by Mom, and some by her calf. We also saw lots of spouts and flukes of whales close to the shoreline…and lots more breaching by whales out to sea in the wind.

Aloha
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: An average size adult Humpback has 2 oval shaped blowholes that measure about 9 inches in diameter (on the bigger part of the oval). The whales use them like you use your nostrils, exhaling through both before inhaling. If an average size human had nostril openings in the same proportion to his size as a whale’s blowholes are to the whale’s body size, each human nostril would measure about an inch and a quarter in diameter (I just measured my own, and they’re only about 7/16ths of an inch wide — the things we do for science…).

When a Mugging is a Good Thing

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Aloha,

We had a great weekend of whale watching. With so many cruises, there’s no way I can recap everything, but here are a few highlights. On Friday’s Wake up With the Whales Cruise on Seasmoke, we got to watch a pod of three whales twisting and turning around each other on the surface. For awhile, two of them were obviously belly to belly and then one was on top of the other — were they mating? On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise on Manu Iwa, we saw two different Mom/Baby/Escort pods. One of the escorts breached three times when he was just 30 feet from our idling boat. We also got mugged by the second pod for more than 30 minutes. All day long, we were seeing whale spouts in every direction.
On Saturday’s 8:00 am Cruise from Anaeho’omalu Bay, Captain Jake had a choice to make when we left the bay. We saw spouts in pretty much every direction, but we went south, and it paid off. We spent most of our time with a competitive pod of 4 whales who were charging around on the surface. We got to see the differences between the shapes of their flukes…and also got to see a bit of a fight. The whales didn’t seem to care that we were idling in the area as they milled about, changing directions, and even surfacing about 30 feet from us and charging towards us before diving. We also saw a whale from a different pod tail-lob 13 times before tiring out, and lots of lunges and peduncle throws from whales further in the distance. On the 12:30 Cruise, lucky guests got to see a whale breach 15 times right in front of the boat, and on the Whales and Cocktails, we were mugged for a good ten minutes by two curious whales who kept surfacing  just 10 feet away from our idling boat.
On each of Sunday’s cruises we saw spouts from more than 2 dozen Humpbacks. On Manu Iwa’s 8:00 Wake up with the Whales Cruise, we all enjoyed the antics of several different calves, but we were totally blown away when one baby approached the boat at the end of the charter. Not only did mom let him come within about 50 feet of us, but she surfaced too…and then one of our guests on the starboard bow noticed a shadow in the water. It turned out to be the escort who cruised under us just 10 feet below the surface. We all got a great look at him as he passed below the hulls. On our special 11:00 Educational Cruise, the Girl Scouts from Ke’eau, and some high school kids from HPA got to see lots of breaching, peduncle throwing and tail lobbing from some very energetic adult whales. We also got to see a couple of yearlings close up when they cruised by our idling boat.
Hope your weekend was as nice as ours!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: According to research conducted by the Nelson Institute of Marine Research, a Humpback’s heart beats an average of 40 bpm, but the whales do experience periods of tachycardia and bradycardia (faster than normal and slower than normal heart rates) during dives.